Local News

The woman who was wounded in last Thursday's fatal Kershaw shooting has been identified and arrested.

Jody Linn Holt, 30, of Kershaw, was arrested at the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office Thursday and has been charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana and unlawful neglect of a child.

Holt and Vincent Barry Lambert Jr. were both shot on Pine Ridge Drive in Kershaw May 10 with their 4-year-old son in the backseat. Holt was severely injured, and Lambert did not survive. The child was unhurt.

A second teen has been arrested in last Thursday’s Kershaw murder, and another is being sought by authorities.
Ka’Darius Aintwayn Kirkland, 19, of Kershaw turned himself in to authorities Tuesday afternoon after Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office investigators and SLED agents searched parts of Kershaw and Heath Springs for him.
Kirkland was charged with murder in the shooting of Vincent Barry Lambert Jr. and two counts of attempted murder, according to a sheriff’s statement. He was denied bond.

Lancaster County School District officials placed South Middle School on lockdown at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office was looking for a suspect in the area of Springdale Road, school officials said, and because of the proximity to South Middle, officials locked down the school.

HEATH SPRINGS – If you want to light Rick Crimminger’s fuse, ask him about the change in state law that cost the town of Heath Springs a hefty $41.27 for every vote cast in the recent special election.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” said Crimminger, a former school board member and county councilman who now chairs the Lancaster County Election Commission.

Authorities are combing the Shiloh Unity/Craig Farm roads area for a suspect wanted in connection to a Thursday shooting death in Kershaw.
Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Doug Barfield said investigators received a tip Monday that the unnamed suspect was at a home on Hood Park Lane, which is off Craig Farm Road just south of Shiloh Unity Road.
Deputies approached the house about 1 p.m., but the suspect ran out a back door and fled, possibly into the woods.

Another Kershaw school fire caused students to miss half a day of school on Monday, causing minimal damage due to the quick work of local firefighters.
The small blaze began in a Kershaw Elementary School classroom when an air conditioning unit attached to the outside wall caught fire, spreading smoke to other classrooms.
Only the first classroom and an adjacent one suffered smoke or fire damage, and no one was injured. Students were dismissed at 12:30 p.m. Monday, but were able to return to classes as usual Tuesday.

Two people were shot, one fatally, while riding in a car just north of Kershaw early Thursday afternoon, causing the lockdown of two nearby schools as deputies conducted a manhunt for the shooter.
“Right now, I just don’t want to guess at what happened,” said Lancaster County Sheriff Barry Faile, still supervising the search at press time. “We’re processing everything, trying to piece it all together.”

Nearly two months after fire blackened Andrew Jackson Middle School, students, teachers and faculty jammed the halls again Tuesday morning, delighted to be back home.

“It’s been wonderful to be back,” said Kelly Phillips, assistant principal at AJMS. “There’s been a lot of excitement in the air. A lot of people have been commenting on how bright the school looks and how clean the walls are.”

Steve Mann, a seventh-grade math teacher, said everyone was relieved and eager to get back to normal.

Eight months after he left a loaded pistol near 2-year-old Jacarion Gladden and left the room, Shazeem Tyrell Hayes was sentenced Friday to 8½ years in prison in the toddler’s accidental shooting death.
Hayes, 19, pleaded guilty to possession of a handgun by a person convicted of a violent crime and unlawful conduct toward a child.
Circuit Judge Brian Gibbons sentenced Hayes to the maximum five-year term on the gun charge and an additional 3½ years on the unlawful-conduct charge. The maximum sentence on that count was 10 years.

Over 4,000 homes and businesses are without power following a severe thunderstorm that blew through Lancaster County around 3 p.m. Sunday.
As of 6:30 p.m. Sunday, outages included 3,541 with Duke Energy, 552 with Lynches River and 65 with York Electric Co-op.
According to Darren Player, director of Lancaster County Fire Rescue, there seems to be no tornado damage although a tornado warning was issued for the county until 3:15 p.m. Sunday.